Strong police presence breaks CSG blockade

POLICE from the tactical response group have broken the Glenugie anti-CSG blockade, allowing Metgasco vehicles entry to the site and bringing the 52-day protest to an end.

According to witnesses, after a relatively peaceful morning police turned aggressive just before midday and forced entry into the throng of protestors, arresting several people.

Everyone else was marched in columns several hundred metres away from the drilling site.

One protestor, 74-year-old Anne Thompson from Eltham, described being 'man-handled' by police as she attempted to sing to fellow protestors while being escorted away.

Up to 12 people were arrested in the police action, some who had attached themselves to vehicles, sunken concrete devices and makeshift tripods.

Metgasco contractors are now in the process of setting up a drilling site and camp.

Protestors have complained that police actions are placing the safety of a protestor at risk.

Lynette Eggins from CSG Free Northern Rivers said reports from the site suggested that the police tactical response unit had removed support structures on which a protestor was perched high up in a tree adjacent to the CSG drilling site.

"It appears that the protestor is without any form of rope or other support in the tree," she said.

"Just as the police called on the community earlier today to not place their own or others' safety at risk, the community now calls on the NSW police force to take every precaution to ensure that the protestor concerned is safe at all times."